How I use my Bullet Journal For Blogging

Putting The Digital World on Paper

Bullet journalling has become one of my favourite ways to keep my life organised. A blank notebook ready to become, in my case, the backbone of everything I do. Bullet journals have the ability to case anything and everything you want in them and whilst I definitely miss buying god knows how many random but pretty notebooks I never manage to quite fill, I have truly jumped on the bullet journal bandwagon and have truly seen the benefits work for themselves.

One of my favourite uses of a bullet journal is its’ main ability to put anything you wish into it and create it exactly how you want it. There aren’t any limitations or boundaries, the plain pages are ready to be scribbled and fill to your hearts desires. And as someone who basically adores organising their life (well, tries to…) I love that I can include my blogging segments seamlessly alongside my life and everyday segments. The more I use my journal, the more I find ways to make it work beautifully for me and help me stay on track with everything; life admin, plans, blogging, work, deadlines, money and so much more.

Before we dive into the pages of my bullet journal, I warn you – my handwriting is awful, I cannot draw and I seem to be completely unable to form a straight line. My bullet journal isn’t like those gorgeous, beautifully designed ones you see browsing on Pinterest. My bullet journal is simple and it is what personally works for me – I am definitely the type that wants it to be purely functional and useful. With some dashings of a pastel pink highlighter… of course.

Post Planning and Scheduling

The first thing (after the yearly layout and all that) you’ll see in my bullet journal is twelve pages dedicated to my monthly blog schedule. This is where I keep all my upcoming post details and dates where I can track what I have and haven’t done in an easy manner. The dots and layout I definitely stole from Anna’s bullet journal and find these so easy to visually see simply whether a post has been photographed, written, scheduled or live. I love keeping track of my blog posts and what I’ve done and this is the perfect way to do so. Plus, it so satisfying seeing all the dots at the end! Handy tip: use an erasable pen or have tip-ex on hand for this as depending on different circumstances, it is likely that my posts may switch around during the month!

Tracking Statistics

I don’t think it is healthy to be obsessed with numbers but I do think it is a good idea to keep an eye on what’s going on with your blog views, social media follows and growth. Obviously, it can be a necessity for PR’s and can be useful information to include in pitches, but it also helps you understand your growth, see your good months and your not-so-good months and perhaps see what social media’s need working on. However you wish to use the information, I do think it is a good idea to track your statistics.

I like to do mine monthly (I record them on the last day of the month) and I like to track my Facebook page likes, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, Youtube subscribers, Bloglovin followers and monthly page views. Then at the end of the month, I total all these up and work out my overall growth for that month. It shows some interesting things, for example, from lasts year bullet journal, I didn’t grow that much in December but blog views wise, my views were insane and for instance, I barely posted in February but my Bloglovin and Instagram still continued to grow steadily.

You can track whatever you want, page views, sources, unique visitors, the freedom of a bullet journal is all yours to take advantage of though like I earlier mentioned, there is no need to be really obsessed with your blogging related numbers!

Tracking PR Samples and Sponsored Posts

No matter how well I try and clean up my inbox and keep it in some sort of organised manner, I do find myself getting lost in a mix of emails I need to keep, those I need to chase, those that need to be replied to, shopping confirmation, delivery notes etc and I do find myself forgetting to keep track of due dates and samples that are being delivered. Tracking them all in my bullet journal really helps to keep an eye on what has been delivered, what I’m still waiting for (useful if you have a deadline for this as well) and then the finalising, whether I have set the post live and emailed it to the PR. If it is a sponsored post, I track the deadline for the post, then the rough guide for the payment and keep track. There has definitely been the odd time I haven’t chased up a payment and then realised I have been due it for a few months. Having it written down on paper really helps me out!

Budget Tracker

The budget tracker isn’t directly used in relation to blogging but for me, an impulsive buyer, it is especially useful. As a beauty and fashion enthusiast and a blogger who wants to try all these new products out, a big portion of my wages go on makeup, skincare and fashion and there are definitely times I overspend trying all these new products I want out. By tracking what I’m buying and how much I’m spending, I’m starting to see that I am spending way too much money on makeup and skincare, just to ‘try’ it and I’m noticing that sometimes, I don’t even end up posting about it, it just gets lost in my makeup drawers. By having the budget tracker and giving myself goals, I am keeping track of my spending, hopefully cutting it down and I’m starting to save up for the things I really want.

I also keep track of all my monthly payments, so for instance in relation to blogging, my Abode subscription, my domain and hosting renewal, by being constantly reminded when these are all coming out, I know how much money needs to be put away for them. After all, the last thing I want is for my blog to go down because I don’t have the pennies to pay for hosting!

Weekly Spreads

My weekly spreads are used for everything, my day-to-day tasks, appointments, deadlines, work, overviewing like what I’m doing that day and also for blogging. My weekly spreads really help me when it comes to visualising an overview of my week. I can see what posts should be going live, what I need to do for those posts and other bits and bobs, for instance, whether I have scheduled tweets for that week, whether I have shared the post to Facebook, etc etc. For me, I just find having the weekly spreads across two pages really useful for visualising everything I have to do, not even just to do with blogging.

Follow:

You may also enjoy:

Some of the above links may be affiliate links. This means if you click the link and buy the outfit/product I recommend, I earn a small percentage of that sale. It does not make any difference to you as the buyer, you pay and order the same way you would normally do. I only ever use affiliate links for items I actually love and recommend.